Nigeria loses N27bn to gas flaring in one month

Nigeria lost about $170.166 million, around N27.227 billion to gas flaring in one month, as oil and gas companies flared 39.07 billion Standard Cubic Feet (SCF) of gas in the month of August 2014.

*Gas flare

Quoting data from the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), Bloomberg put the price of natural gas at $4.27 per million British Thermal Unit (BTU) of gas. A Standard Cubic Feet of gas is equal to 1,020 BTU of gas.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, in its latest report on activities in the oil and gas sector for the month of August 2014, revealed that the oil and gas companies produced a total of 226.255 billion SCF of gas, utilised 187.85 billion SCF and flared 39.070 billion SCF.

Specifically, the quantity flared represents 17.27 per cent of the total quantity of gas produced.

Marginal Fields operators were the worst offenders in the month under review, flaring 81.58 per cent of their total gas production. Specifically, Marginal Fields produced 1.223 billion SCF of gas, utilized 805.424 million SCF and flared 997.587 million SCF of gas.

Sole Risk/Independent oil companies followed with the production of 14.139 billion SCF of gas, utilizing 2.81 billion SCF and flaring 11.33 billion SCF, representing 80.12 per cent of the total quantity of gas produced.

Production Sharing Companies recorded gas production of 27.828 billion SCF, utilized 18.558 billion SCF and flared 9.27 billion SCF of gas, representing 33.31 per cent of the total gas produced in the sector.

Joint Venture companies were the least offenders, flaring 9.86 per cent of the total gas produced in the sector. Specifically, companies in the sector jointly produced 183.066 billion SCF of gas, utilized 165.011 billion and flared 18.055 billion SCF.

On a company-by-company basis, Seplat Petroleum Development Company and Niger Delta Western, were the worst offenders, with each flaring 100 per cent of their total gas production of 830.26 million SCF and 2.682 billion SCF respectively.

Allied Energy/Camac Energy followed, flaring 94.44 per cent of their total gas production of 961.37 million SCF, while Midwestern Oil and Gas produced 22.685 million SCF, flaring 21.185 million SCF, representing 93.39 per cent.

Chevron Texaco flared 379.192 million SCF, representing 90.98 per cent of its 416.774 million SCF gas production; Pillar Oil produced 20.65 million SCF, utilized 2.29 million SCF and flared 18.36 million SCF, representing 88.91 per cent of its total gas production, while Naconde Energy flared 84.24 per cent of its 40.837 million SCF gas production.

Energia Limited produced 290.52 million SCF of gas, utilized 72.19 million SCF and flared 218.33 million SCF, which is 75.15 per cent of its total gas production; Oriental Energy flared 72.3 per cent of its total gas production of 183.35 million SCF, while Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, flared 71.85 per cent of 8.932 billion SCF of gas it produced in the period under review.

The NNPC, had in its Annual Statistical Bulletin for the year 2013, declared that Nigeria lost about $1.705 billion (N272.8 billion) to gas flaring, as oil and gas firms operating in the country flared 409.311 billion Standard Cubic Feet, SCF, of gas between January and December 2013.

According to the NNPC, oil and gas firms produced 2.325 trillion SCF of gas in the 2013, but were only able to utilise 1.917 trillion SCF, flaring 409.311 billion SCF, representing 17.6 per cent of the total gas produced.